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Care Opinion

Long wait to see a District nurse

Posted By Cobra1

"Long wait to see a District nurse"

About: Lanarkshire Community Services / Community Nursing Service NHS 24 / NHS 24 (111 service)

(as a relative),

I arrived at my elderly Dad's house to find him lying on the floor in the hall having fallen on his way to the bathroom. We managed to lift him and got him into his chair. We then discovered that he had very bad abrasions on both his elbows, the left one in particular where the skin had completely lifted and was a skin flap and was bleeding profusely.

We contacted NHS 24 to see if we could get an appointment rather than taking him to sit in A &E.

After giving all the details to the Call Handler I was transferred to a Nurse who advised that the best course of action for my Dad, as he was able to move his arms, was that it would be passed to the District Nurse to call and attend to him.

Worrying that the District Nurses finished at 5. 00pm I called to see when we could expect them. I was told by the Call Handler that the nurses work 24 hrs but he said that the expected time should have been within 2 hours of the initial call.

My sister phoned to see why no one had arrived and was told that it was with the District Nurses and they prioritise the cases and they could not contact them for an estimated time of their visit.

8 hours after the initial call, I phoned again to speak to a nurse as my Dad was needing to go to bed but we were unsure about giving him his medication, including a sleeping tablet, considering there was the possibility of a nurse coming in during the night.

We put my Dad to bed  minus his sleeping tablet and there was still no sign of a District Nurse. Is this length of time acceptable for elderly patient to be left awaiting treatment.

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Responses

Response from Kathryn Ferguson, Primary Care Division, NHS Lanarkshire 7 years ago
Kathryn Ferguson
Primary Care Division,
NHS Lanarkshire

Submitted on 29/11/2016 at 12:29
Published on Care Opinion at 16:15

picture of Kathryn Ferguson

Dear Cobra1

Thank you for getting in touch, however I was sorry to hear details of your recent experience regarding your dad and our out of hours nursing service. I apologise that the level of care your dad received fell below the standards expected from NHS Lanarkshire.

I would be grateful if you would to contact me directly on 01698 858 292 between 9am and 5pm Monday to Friday or via email kathryn.ferguson@lanarkshire.scot.nhs.uk. I would be happy to look into matters further around the care your dad received and provide you with a response.

I do hope things have settled and your dad has made a full recovery.

Kind Regards

Kathryn

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Response from Shona Lawrence, Clinical Governance Lead, Nursing and Care, NHS 24 7 years ago
Shona Lawrence
Clinical Governance Lead, Nursing and Care,
NHS 24

Submitted on 29/11/2016 at 13:57
Published on Care Opinion at 16:15

picture of Shona Lawrence

Dear Cobra1

I am very sorry to learn that your Dad suffered a fall and of the delay in the District Nurse attending. I hope that your Dad is on his way to a full recovery and I wish him well.

I note that contact was made with NHS 24 and, following assessment of your Dad's symptoms and circumstances, our Nurse arranged for a District Nurse to attend. From the detail you have provided, this should have been within a two hour timeframe.

It may be helpful if I explain that the District Nurse service is managed by the local Health Boards. Therefore, following assessment by NHS 24, we pass the patient's details to their local Health Board, which in your father's case is NHS Lanarkshire, who then make the necessary arrangements for a District Nurse to attend. I am sure my colleagues within NHS Lanarkshire will be keen to understand why there was such a delay in the Nurse attending.

Should you wish for any aspect of the contact with NHS 24 to be reviewed, then I would be happy to arrange this. I can be contacted on 0141 337 4582 or by email at patientaffairs@nhs24.scot.nhs.uk.

With kind regards

Shona

Shona Lawrence

NHS 24 Patient Affairs Manager

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Response from Jean Donaldson, Associate Director of Nursing, South Lanarkshire Health & Social Care Partnership, NHS Lanarkshire 7 years ago
Jean Donaldson
Associate Director of Nursing, South Lanarkshire Health & Social Care Partnership,
NHS Lanarkshire

Submitted on 30/11/2016 at 18:42
Published on Care Opinion at 20:17

picture of Jean Donaldson

Dear Cobra1

I’m sorry to hear of your Dad’s experience of the District Nursing Service following his fall.

At this point I would like to offer my sincere apology for the delay in someone attending to your dad and for the poor communication your family experienced.

NHS Lanarkshire operates a 24 hour District Nursing Service and we strive to meet the needs of individuals in a timely and appropriate manner. You’ll appreciate that the nature of the service means that staff are usually out and about making home visits and whilst they are contactable via mobile phones there can be a delay in them responding to referrals.

However, once a referral has been received the normal process is for a member of staff to call the person to advise of an approximate time that they will visit. This doesn’t seem to have happened in your dad’s case and I am keen to explore the circumstances to try and understand why, so that we can avoid this happening in the future.

I would be grateful if you would take up the offer made by Kathryn Ferguson, Patient Affairs Manager, Primary Care Division, NHS Lanarkshire and get in touch with us via email or telephone to enable us to do this.

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